UFC 100 was a Flop Outside of the Octagon

Over the last year, Dana White and the UFC spent countless hours and a tremendous amount of money to promote UFC 100 – which was billed as the most important night in Mixed Martial Arts history.

There were countdowns on both Yahoo! and Spike TV leading up to the event. Even ESPN – which had previously given MMA very little coverage in the past – spent all week leading up to UFC 100 promoting the spectacle.

I had waited months to see UFC 100. Yet when it was over I turned to the room full of people I was watching it with and asked, “That was it?”

UFC 100 was no different than any other UFC pay-per-view event. It was a few fights, they showed me Turkish from the movie Snatch sitting in the crowd and then I was given the disturbing mental image of Brock Lesnar mounting his wife.

exactly what I was thinking I wanted to announce the inductees, show a montage, bring the Gracie's on the stage, list of some stats spanning the 100 events, special news that they had been guarding and sandbagging for the event. They really did not make the PPV different than other PPVs

BarryScott

7/13/09 3:38:14PM

Posted by McBee

exactly what I was thinking I wanted to announce the inductees, show a montage, bring the Gracie's on the stage, list of some stats spanning the 100 events, special news that they had been guarding and sandbagging for the event. They really did not make the PPV different than other PPVs

Hadn't thought about any of that but damn it would have been cool! I'm disappointed now

emfleek

7/13/09 3:41:53PM

There's only so much that can be done in a 3-hour span, though. They already cut down the time in between fights (or it seemed like it to me, anyways) so I'm not so sure much else could have been done without eliminating a fight from being aired on the live telecast.

McBee

7/13/09 3:46:01PM

Posted by emfleek

There's only so much that can be done in a 3-hour span, though. They already cut down the time in between fights (or it seemed like it to me, anyways) so I'm not so sure much else could have been done without eliminating a fight from being aired on the live telecast.

they could of had less live fights and cut out walk ups, I could have cared less to see the Fitch fight live or at all, heck put the Lawlor fight in its place without a walkup and you just added 20 minutes or more. The have announced Hall of famers and made news in PPVs before.

emfleek

7/13/09 3:50:03PM

Posted by McBee

they could of had less live fights and cut out walk ups

I'll take more fights over interviews ANY day of the week.

The Fan Expo was put together for stuff like that. The Top 100 fights was shown on Spike. Having to pay $45.00 to watch a PPV full of interviews and less fights than a normal PPV doesn't sit right with me.

McBee

7/13/09 3:54:05PM

Posted by emfleek

Posted by McBee

they could of had less live fights and cut out walk ups

I'll take more fights over interviews ANY day of the week.

The Fan Expo was put together for stuff like that. The Top 100 fights was shown on Spike. Having to pay $45.00 to watch a PPV full of interviews and less fights than a normal PPV doesn't sit right with me.

I am not saying less fights I am saying less live fights so they can choose which one we watch so we do not watch a crappy decision instead of the sub of the night or ko of the night and save time for the special stuff. It makes sense.

They have done it before and could have done it here and made it more special, that is what I told people I was expecting.

Wolfenstein

7/13/09 3:57:38PM

There are plenty of UFC highlight films. I certainly didn't drop $50 to watch some montage of pinnacle moments in the UFC--I payed for fights. If the fights had been a little more exciting, then all you would hear about is how epic UFC 100 was.

Thye made the big matchups, there's not much more you can really do other than watch it play out. My only complaint would be putting Fitch vs Thiago on the main card. Everyone knew that wasn't going to be an exciting matchup stylistically. They would have been better off putting on at least one barn burner of two strikers.

bootyclause

7/13/09 4:16:40PM

this article is internet and/or sports writer haterism at its peak. Yeah, it wasnt the best all time but not worthy of being trashed. I enjoyed it and was excited watching it.

There were 30,000 people at the fan expo, the event got more mainstream coverage than most other UFC events and for 2 days after Brock Lesnar and UFC stuff (including Fedor talk) have been featured on the front page of Yahoo. It was probably the highest selling PPV in UFC history - on the heels of having 3 other PPV's in the past year that sold near 1 million buys themselves. Who cares if they didnt interview Royce Gracie or have some ceremony? gimme a break.

So after all that how was it a failure inside or outside the cage? It just wasnt - horrible article and idea.

and seriously, thank God this is just a blog on one of the mma sites and not an article on ESPN.com or the New York Times. I would be pissed if a national meainstream writer wrote this and tried to throw cold water on the UFC.

StorminYourman

7/13/09 4:23:01PM

more of an editorial then really news but as a real MMA fan I prefer fights more then filler

Iamsocrates

7/13/09 4:28:24PM

Wer pay a lot of money to watch the fights IMO. I would sit down 2 hours earlier to see 4 or 5 more fights. I don't know why they dont show more. I love it when most the fights end in the 1st round then I know I get to see more. Since I've been buying the fights I can remember 1 time seeing 10 of the 11 fights.

McBee

7/13/09 4:28:57PM

Posted by StorminYourman

more of an editorial then really news but as a real MMA fan I prefer fights more then filler

with some thought they could have had both, I liked the event a lot and watch every event, I am not bashing I just think they could have if they wanted to and it would have made the event special. I am not saying endless interviews just short snipits inbetween the fights.

McBee

7/13/09 4:32:21PM

Posted by Iamsocrates

Wer pay a lot of money to watch the fights IMO. I would sit down 2 hours earlier to see 4 or 5 more fights. I don't know why they dont show more. I love it when most the fights end in the 1st round then I know I get to see more. Since I've been buying the fights I can remember 1 time seeing 10 of the 11 fights.

and it seems pretty easy and I think everyone would agreed, only show main events or high profile fights live and the rest of the fights are picked by entertainment factor and cut the walkups out of most of them, which they are ready do.

gabe531

7/13/09 5:20:06PM

article sucked IMO, and the only way to get rid of the discussion on this topic is be like PRIDE and show ENTIRE card and not like affliction where you have to have a certain channel to see undercards even if you buy the ppv, i mean if you buy the ppv then you get to watch the entire card on that channel

DevonFoxy

7/13/09 6:11:39PM

I loved UFC 100 personally. Great fighters fighting great fights really shocased the sport with GSP fighting and I think casual fans got introduced to the best athlete our sport has to offer, a fantastic knock out and a great fight between Belcher/Akiyama.

I think the PPV def. delivered and it attacked the casual fans. It showed MMA has the greatest athletes to change peoples thinking who thought this sport was, I quote from someone I talked to "a panzey street fight" to an exciting nights of technique. I brought a bunch of people who usually don't watch MMA and they loved every minute of it. It was exciting to see people who are some of my best friends who didn't understand the sport watch it and actually understand why I love this sport and what it has to offer.

UFC def. had a great night in my opinion to the casual fan and It effected my friends in a positive way for the sport so to say the least I disagree with the article.

Zekeil

7/13/09 7:03:18PM

They should have had 100 free on Spike tv. It would have been like a thank you to all of us fans who made it possible them to even have 100 events, secondly they could have made it a 5 hour or even longer event.The extra time on spike would have given them enough time to make it special instead of just another PPV.

RearNakedJoke

7/13/09 7:19:13PM

i want to watch great fights. thats what i paid for and thats what i got. if i wanted to see hall of fame inductees i'd have watched it on ufc.com the night before. royce was in the crowd smiling(a rare sight) and that was enough for me.